Wednesday, 2 January 2008

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A "surge" of overused words and phrases formed a "perfect storm" of "post-9/11" cliches in 2007, according to a U.S. university's annual list of words and phrases that deserve to be banned.

Choosing from among 2,000 submissions, the public relations department at Michigan's Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie targeted 19 affronts to the English language in its well-known jab at the worlds of media, sports, advertising and politics.

The contributors gave first prize to the phrase "a perfect storm," saying it was numbingly applied to virtually any notable coincidence.

I can't say I've really come across that phrase all that much. The full list of banished words is here. Better candidates for top spot, in my view: organic and emotional. Random and sweet are teen slang, so they're not supposed to make sense to Lake Superior State University types. Decimate is as old as the Roman hills, and it's been misused for as long. And how often does anyone see authoring or wordsmithing? A pretty useless list, in all. Send your suggestions to make next year's list better, at this address.